Meet Your Neighbours

Recently we were catching up with some friends and talking about settling in to the neighbourhood where we are living and ministering. Our friends remarked at how many neighbours we had met, and the fact that we already knew their names.

For us getting to know our neighbours is a fundamental aspect of our ministry, and we are intentionally pro-active about it. Yet the conversation got us thinking: why is it 'typical' for people to inhabit a dwelling but not meet or know their neighbours, even those just a door or two away? And why do Christ followers seem to accept this status quo for themselves? Of course we can say that this is just a 'British' phenomenon, or the outworking of an increasingly individualistic society ... but with every Christ follower an ambassador for Christ should we as Christians simply be the same? Are we not called to be different?

To be different is going to take some effort, however. That effort might be summarised as follows:

1. Be intentional - backed by prayer. Start by simply praying for openings, and pray blessing for the neighbours anyway. Then look for opportunities, and even if natural opportunities don't arise be ready to take initiative.
2. Make the effort to knock on the neighbour's door, or divert across to them if you see them on the street. Of course you cannot guarantee you will be well received, but you can still and try offer friendship.
3. Go ahead and break the ice! Introduce yourself, and ask for their name. In any case express welcome.

For us being new to the neighbourhood, the 'newness' affords opportunity. The natural fear for most people is that the more time has passed, the more awkward it is. If time has passed, then a little ingenuity might be required ... which basically means inventing an excuse to knock on their door! Using a festival or seasonal event can work, taking some chocolates or other simple treat as part of the seasons greetings. Any which way it still requires praying, the intentionality, the effort, and the willingness to go ahead and ring the bell in the hope of breaking the ice.

None of this guarantees becoming great friends, or being able to share faith, or anything like that. Yet it does communicate that you are there, and that you are there for them. That is surely among the most basic of building blocks for community, the most basic layer of salt, and is a step to live contrarian to an individualistic society that isolates and compartmentalises to everyone's detriment.

Acts 16 - A lesson in Pioneering

In Acts 16 Paul travels into Greece, making his way quickly to Philippi where he then embarks on witnessing locally. This results in the conversion of Lydia, the baptism of her household, and her house becoming a base for the ongoing local mission.

Paul has a strategic head. He apparently skips Samothrace and Neapolis in order to reach the key city of Philippi. Yet remember that his original strategy was to turn back into Asia, until interrupted by the 'Macedonian Call'. Strategies are good, but we should continually put them before the Lord and allow the Spirit to interrupt us!

Once in Philippi he and his small team go to a place that they have heard is a place of prayer: presumably Philippi has no formal synagogue and on asking around they hear of this place where people gather. It is instructive for us to note how in each place Paul initially heads for where there is already some kind of (monotheistic) faith. Perhaps in his mind he figures that this is the best place to get started since people will already have a notion of seeking God, and a knowledge of God's promises. Paul is looking for people to join the cause of Christ, and in this way he looks for 'low hanging fruit' first of all. He does this expectantly, underpinned by that call of the Spirit that took him across the water to Greece.

At the place of prayer they discover Lydia and get into conversation. We are told that "the Lord opened her heart to Paul's message". This hits on another principle - that the Spirit is ahead of us, preparing people so that they are ready and open. Fundamentally we can be as slick in our conversation as we like, but unless the Spirit is at work we will see little movement.

Things then appear to move rapidly. Perhaps it was all 'same day', perhaps Luke has truncated the story. Either way Lydia invites the team to use her house which apparently becomes a base for the ongoing work. She does this with the words 'if you consider me a believer in the Lord', in other words 'do I qualify?'. Culturally she had the disadvantages of being both a woman and likely Gentile background - but in God's eyes they answer is a resounding 'yes'! Paul and the team have the wisdom to go with what God is doing rather than being boxed in by their own cultural assumptions, and so the base is established. 

As we pioneer, looking to bring gospel witness across an area, it is therefore worth keeping in mind:

• The original sense of Spirit given call
• Being strategic in method and yet submitting that to God's ongoing direction & re-direction
• Asking around for a sense of what is already there to be found 
• Looking for people who are already seeking, who are open, and in whom the Spirit is already working
• If newcomers are moved to do so, letting them host the base for the next phase of work 

Paul is strategic and methodical, but it depends on following the call of the Spirit and joining with the work of the Spirit for progress to be made.

The True King

Recently it was Ascension Day - when Christians remember the moment the disciples had their last resurrection encounter with Jesus. From this point 'he was taken up' and disappeared from their sight.

It is easy to just focus on quaint images of the risen Christ somehow floating up into the sky, eventually disappearing behind the clouds and saying 'that is Ascension'. Maybe it physically happened exactly that way, maybe it didn't - but either way there is more to it than that!

Through the cross, resurrection, and subsequent ascension Jesus was moving into his true and rightful place - as the Sovereign King of the whole earth, with all principalities and powers to be under Him. The physical ascension is therefore the final scene of the whole 'Ascent to Title' drama. It is the completing moment in a sequence from which springs the glorious message to the world: "There is a new King on the throne!".

The writer of Hebrews captures this key theological concept in chapter 1 verse 3: "... he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in Heaven".  

The apostles and initial believers who clung together immediately after his death and resurrection were given the task of 'sent messengers', to be witnesses to this new King (Acts chapter 1). They were to take the message far and wide (across the Roman empire and beyond) that there is this new King. The language used throughout the New Testament exactly matches the Greek/Roman language for announcing the crowning of a new king or emperor across the conquered lands. It is the root of the word 'evangelist' ('evangelion') - the one who brings the good news of the new rightful ruler.

Ascension is therefore not merely a somewhat romantic notion of the physical Jesus disappearing from view - it is a geo-political statement of cosmic proportions. All our witness to the world (in whatever form) stems from this new reality. It is good news, with good news ramifications for all the world down through the ages, today, and for ever.

Re-set and Re-run

Recently we moved house - staying in the same overall area, but moving from one block to another about ten minutes walk away. Naturally amongst the upheaval it has been hard to maintain normal rhythms and the prayer focus for neighbours that we have had over the past 22 months.

Our original near neighbours are not that far away, but now we have new near neighbours to meet, bless and pray for! Therefore part of emerging from the chaos of moving house has involved a kind of 're-set and re-run' of our intentional prayer & incarnational living dynamic. It has meant starting afresh:

• meeting & discovering people who live close by. This includes meeting people who will live close by - their house is not finished yet so they will be moving here in weeks to come
• walking around the area prayerfully, being open to notice and pay attention to whatever we might see
• starting to map out who is who, and put names of neighbours on paper slips so we can pray for them from time to time
• praying into and working out how to make diary space to be able to meet up and get to know neighbours better

We are just getting this re-set going, but it serves as a good reminder of the basic rhythms & practices of incarnational living - the desire to live among and minister to whoever is around us, seeking the Spirit's lead and unfolding.

A key difference to last time is that being in the same area, we already have a diary of community activities that we are plugged into and serving among, and we have a whole number of contacts and people we are working with (accumulated from the last 22 months of mission activity). In that sense we are not totally starting again from scratch, so we could easily devote our energy and focus to maintaining those good good efforts. But the personal calling we feel is to intentionally make space and time for our nearest neighbours: so the re-set and re-run of the basic practices listed above warrant our attention and priority.